IFC US $ 75m loan for John Keells

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will extend a corporate investment facility to support John Keells Holdings’ expansion in key business areas in Sri Lanka and other countries in the South Asia region.

This will promote cross-border business and growth of infrastructure across the region.

The tailor-made stand-by loan facility is consistent with IFC’s strategy for Sri Lanka, as it will support a domestic entity with operations in key strategic sectors of the economy and address any constraints in securing long-term funding.

This transaction will also help attract the interests of other overseas financial investors to the country.

IFC’s standby loan of US$75 million for John Keells will be IFC’s single largest investment until date in manufacturing and services sectors in Sri Lanka, which are critical for the country’s economy as they together account for over 82% of the overall GDP.

IFC’s strategy to support private corporates in these sectors is to provide long term funding to companies which are either globally competitive and are expanding to assume a regional presence; or are restructuring to achieve global cost competitiveness in their operations.

Chairman, John Keells Holdings, Susantha Ratnayake said, “In the past, as the group has embarked on new, challenging investments, IFC has been a partner of choice due to its global reach.

For our regional investments, we require partners with knowledge of the local markets and access to long-term and flexible financing structures. IFC’s support to the group in this context will play an important role.”